Tuesday, 2 August 2011

A cheeky supper club – the French Launderette - inspired by Thomas Keller’s forthcoming London pop-up will take place on Sunday 2 October.Its organizer is Sabrina Ghayour, who is known to many as a passionate foodie and ‘greedy girl around town’.The dinner will cost just £2.50 which is 1 percent of the price of the ‘original’ hosted at Harrods for £250.Reservations for the French Launderette have been taken within minutes of the word going round, and the main set of 40 tickets will be released on 1 September at 10am. Any donations above the £2.50 ticket price are welcome, and will go directly to the Action Against Hunger charity

Sabrina explains the concept: “As a long-time fan of Thomas Keller, I was really excited to hear about his London pop-up at Harrods but the hefty price tag of £250 per person (combined with my recent redundancy) means I’m just not able to go. After a few hours spent on Twitter, it quickly became apparent that many other people wanted to dine at Keller’s pop-up, but were put off by the cost and in most cases unable to afford it.So I came up with a novel idea for an alternative supper club that could accommodate those who wouldn’t be able to foot the bill at the Harrods’ hosted Keller pop-up, and I gave it the tongue-in-cheek name of ‘French Launderette Supper Club’.

“The idea is that I will charge diners 1 percent of the cost of Thomas Keller’s pop-up and deliver a carefully created four course menu with a very humble price tag of just £2.50 per person, allowing anyone and everyone to be a part of the evening. Within minutes, the news spread like wild fire on Twitter and people were tweeting and emailing, and wanting to take part by either dining, contributing ingredients or cooking on the night - and so it became a reality. The final detail was venue, and Zak Jones of The Chancery London offered his restaurant to me for the event.Suddenly, paired with our team of willing kitchen and front of house volunteers from Twitter, the French Launderette Supper Club is ready to go.

“The menu will draw inspiration, in parts, from some of Keller’s most famous signature dishes.More importantly, it will serve four courses of lovingly prepared food to diners using ingredients which will be sourced, donated and generated with help from Twitter and other foodie friends.

Booking lines open at 10am on the 1 September (to coincide with Keller’s booking line opening) and it is first come first serve. The menu will be kept a surprise until just before the big night.

For further information please contact: Sabrina Ghayour, creator and organiser